PM Modi goes green; switches to LED from tubelights

NEW DELHI: His ministers may have favoured wooden floorings and expensive dustbins to renovate their offices, but Prime Minister Narendra Modi has preferred to go green. Apart from replacement of the air-conditioning system after it completed its lifespan, his personal chambers have seen only one change since he assumed office — replacement of tube lights with energy-saving LED lights.

Prime Minister Modi has been stressing on environment-friendly measures. In his August 28 ‘Mann ki Baat’ address, he advocated making clay idols on Ganesh Chaturthi and Durga Puja. “If we protect the aquatic life, we will serve Lord Ganesh. Eco-friendly Ganesh Utsav is social service since we will be providing employment to many along with preserving the environment,” he said.

In its reply to ET’s query, CPWD said: “No renovation work has been carried out in the chamber of the Prime Minister since May 2014 except replacing of the existing AC system as it had completed its lifespan. With the aim of energy saving the existing tube lights of the personal chamber of the Prime Minister were replaced with efficient LED lights.”

CPWD said: “All the expenditure are maintained as per the directions of Controller of Accounts of the ministry of finance. As per rules, the government expenditure are classified, major/minor head wise and not item wise/ building wise/ room wise, hence it is not possible to give details of buildingwise expenditure.”

The department had, however, shared detailed expenses for similar requests filed by ET for other ministries.